Cuba on Friday launched its delayed International Labor Day rally, in a show of patriotism and protest aganist the U.S.'s embargo.

The rally was held five days after the planned May 1 event due to foul weather and a fuel crisis that has crippled public transport on the island.

Thousands of Cubans, many dressed in white, red and blue t-shirts, touting flags and brandishing posters of former leader Fidel Castro, arrived on the Malecon well before sunrise for an event scheduled for 7 a.m. Similar events were held in central squares in provincial capitals throughout Cuba, state-run television showed.

Fidel Castro, who died in 2016, was famed for his fiery May Day speeches rebuking the United States' trade embargo on Cuba during an annual mass rally traditionally held in Havana's iconic Plaza de la Revolucion. The U.S. has imposed economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba for over six decades. In January, 2021, it tightened sanctions against Cuba by including it in its list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism, having earlier removed it from the list in 2015.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, sporting a baseball cap and a t-shirt in the colors of the Cuban flag, stood beside Raul Castro, Fidel's brother and former Cuban president, at the rally overlooking the Straits of Florida.

The president said in the speech that the gathering of people showed that Cubans were united for revolution and would create a better future by their strengths and talents.

The iconic marches, rife with symbolism and attended primarily by workers' unions and state employees, have long been viewed as a show of support for Castro's 1959 revolution, now in its 64th year.

Though May 1 dawned clear in Havana, a wind and rain storm the previous day hindered preparations, leading Cuban officials to postpone the event until Friday.

Cuban state-run media estimated that 100,000 Cubans had gathered on the Malecon by early Friday morning.

(With input from Reuters)

(Cover: People gather at the seafront Malecon to watch the International Labor Day celebration in Havana, Cuba, May 5, 2023. /Reuters.)